my 89 GT "back in the day" street / track day project build
04-03-2011, 06:19 PM
#12
Well, this weekend I got back at it a bit. Spent yesterday down at my brother's place helping him yank the engine and trans from his 68 GMC pickup.
So I wanted to get the heads off the engine that had been sitting exposed in the car. Needed to find out if it was going to be useable after having sat outside with the intake ports open. I was hopeful, but prepared for the worst.
So I got the valve covers off, in there was pretty clean, looks to be a low mileage engine as the previous owner had said:
So off came the rocker arms and pushrods, and got the head bolts cracked loose OK, ready for the moment of truth:
Bad news, things don't look very tidy in the cylinders:
#5 cylinder has some corrosion on the bore:
Unfortunately the other side isn't looking any better:
Cylinder #3 looking even worse than #5.
So I guess those were the two cylinders that had the intake valves open, makes sense since they are the 2nd in the firing order for each set of 4. Too bad it was left open, I guess even if the rocker arms had been loosened to let all the valves close, it might have been OK.
Now comes the decision as to how to proceed. Do I try to accomplish a quick cleanup on the affected cylinders with a honing tool, or is that just asking for trouble? I'm thinking that the best course of action to keep the project moving forward, is to go to the 86 HO engine that I bought as a spare. It was higher mileage, but a recent runner. If I take it, clean it up, and swap on the extra set of E7 heads that I have, I could get the car going as a runner that much sooner. Not really looking to spend the money right now on a full rebuild of the 90 engine that was in the car, this is supposed to be a budget buildup as much as possible.
Comments, suggestions?
cheers
Ed N.
So I wanted to get the heads off the engine that had been sitting exposed in the car. Needed to find out if it was going to be useable after having sat outside with the intake ports open. I was hopeful, but prepared for the worst.
So I got the valve covers off, in there was pretty clean, looks to be a low mileage engine as the previous owner had said:
So off came the rocker arms and pushrods, and got the head bolts cracked loose OK, ready for the moment of truth:
Bad news, things don't look very tidy in the cylinders:
#5 cylinder has some corrosion on the bore:
Unfortunately the other side isn't looking any better:
Cylinder #3 looking even worse than #5.
So I guess those were the two cylinders that had the intake valves open, makes sense since they are the 2nd in the firing order for each set of 4. Too bad it was left open, I guess even if the rocker arms had been loosened to let all the valves close, it might have been OK.
Now comes the decision as to how to proceed. Do I try to accomplish a quick cleanup on the affected cylinders with a honing tool, or is that just asking for trouble? I'm thinking that the best course of action to keep the project moving forward, is to go to the 86 HO engine that I bought as a spare. It was higher mileage, but a recent runner. If I take it, clean it up, and swap on the extra set of E7 heads that I have, I could get the car going as a runner that much sooner. Not really looking to spend the money right now on a full rebuild of the 90 engine that was in the car, this is supposed to be a budget buildup as much as possible.
Comments, suggestions?
cheers
Ed N.
04-10-2011, 12:17 AM
#14
Was busy this week with work stuff, and getting my crapper Taurus SHO ready to participate at the Solo I instructor school on Saturday, so no further progress on the car itself. But I did make a decision with regard to the engine to move things forward.
An acquaintance from the local Mustang club was selling a clean 87-92 style OEM forged piston shortblock that had an F303 cam swapped in for what I thought was a reasonable price, $400. The big F cam won't be of use to me, since peak HP is around 6,000, I won't have the heads, intake system, or gear ratio to support that. So the plan is to pull the F303 cam and resell it, recoup some of the money spent for the shortblock, and replace it with the stock cam from the engine that came with the car. Then I can bolt on the cleaned up E7TE heads and 1.72 FMS rockers with no P-V clearance issues, and keep the 86 engine as a complete, known good runner in case a backup is needed temporarily at some point to keep the car going.
Repainting the balancer will definitely be on the "to do" list, looks like a fairly new water pump on it as well:
Nice clean guts:
The seller even threw in an almost new stand from Princess Auto, and my 67 Beetle in the background:
Tomorrow hopefully I can get back at it, give the new stove a good looking over to prepare to bolt things together to make a complete runner. Still have to finish taking parts I want to keep off my first SHO and get that car hauled away, I don't want to have too many cars hanging around when my landlord returns from wintering in Florida a few weeks from now.
Also got a few more "old school" acquisitions this week. First one was from a person on the Corral, a nice brand new in the box FMS adjustable brake prop. valve, the old cast body Kelsey-Hayes M-2328-A unit that was included with the older FMS disc brake kits. Actually got a used from a guy on Corner-Carvers as well, and then a few days later the brand new one was offered, so I jumped on it too, $40 shipped. This will look much better to suit the theme of the car underhood than a newer billet block prop. valve would:
The other item I got, from a friend who is a service engineer at Ford of Canada (Oakville Ontario head office), was another old FMS piece new in the package, the M-61120-A dead pedal footrest kit. I could probably have found a stock one out of a later Fox, but this is cool to have, and was $20. He even had the invoice from 1996 when he bought it from a now defunct Toronto Ford dealer for $23. Told him that something else would have been a wiser investment. LOL
I'll post up some more as the engine starts going together.
cheers
Ed N.
An acquaintance from the local Mustang club was selling a clean 87-92 style OEM forged piston shortblock that had an F303 cam swapped in for what I thought was a reasonable price, $400. The big F cam won't be of use to me, since peak HP is around 6,000, I won't have the heads, intake system, or gear ratio to support that. So the plan is to pull the F303 cam and resell it, recoup some of the money spent for the shortblock, and replace it with the stock cam from the engine that came with the car. Then I can bolt on the cleaned up E7TE heads and 1.72 FMS rockers with no P-V clearance issues, and keep the 86 engine as a complete, known good runner in case a backup is needed temporarily at some point to keep the car going.
Repainting the balancer will definitely be on the "to do" list, looks like a fairly new water pump on it as well:
Nice clean guts:
The seller even threw in an almost new stand from Princess Auto, and my 67 Beetle in the background:
Tomorrow hopefully I can get back at it, give the new stove a good looking over to prepare to bolt things together to make a complete runner. Still have to finish taking parts I want to keep off my first SHO and get that car hauled away, I don't want to have too many cars hanging around when my landlord returns from wintering in Florida a few weeks from now.
Also got a few more "old school" acquisitions this week. First one was from a person on the Corral, a nice brand new in the box FMS adjustable brake prop. valve, the old cast body Kelsey-Hayes M-2328-A unit that was included with the older FMS disc brake kits. Actually got a used from a guy on Corner-Carvers as well, and then a few days later the brand new one was offered, so I jumped on it too, $40 shipped. This will look much better to suit the theme of the car underhood than a newer billet block prop. valve would:
The other item I got, from a friend who is a service engineer at Ford of Canada (Oakville Ontario head office), was another old FMS piece new in the package, the M-61120-A dead pedal footrest kit. I could probably have found a stock one out of a later Fox, but this is cool to have, and was $20. He even had the invoice from 1996 when he bought it from a now defunct Toronto Ford dealer for $23. Told him that something else would have been a wiser investment. LOL
I'll post up some more as the engine starts going together.
cheers
Ed N.
05-08-2011, 09:33 PM
#17
Not much to report for an update, last few weeks have been busy with work and getting my SHO ready for the spring track days. Spent 3 days out at Mosport last week instructing for the local BMW club chapter, good bunch of people. Had an awesome wet seesion after lunch on Sunday, passed several of the other instructors including one piloting a 911 GT3, that was good for a chuckle. Unfortunately 3 days seems to be at least 1 day more than I can handle as I pass my 45th birthday, looks like I managed to pinch my sciatic nerve on the left side ... D'OH!!
Have collected a few more bits and pieces for the project, including a pair of the original style Global West caster plates, but no real progress on the car. Going to check in with a doctor this week to see what he recommends for treatment, besides anti-inflammatories and stretching.
cheers
Ed N.
Have collected a few more bits and pieces for the project, including a pair of the original style Global West caster plates, but no real progress on the car. Going to check in with a doctor this week to see what he recommends for treatment, besides anti-inflammatories and stretching.
cheers
Ed N.
07-03-2011, 02:13 AM
#18
Well, it's been a while since I posted any updates on this project, mostly because not much had happened with it (other than a bit more parts collecting) until today. Fortunately the chiropractor visits seem to have straightened whatever inflammed muscles were pinching on my sciatic nerve.
My buddy of 30 years, and assistant in almost everything automotive I've done in that time, Stu K., came by today for a visit. I had ordered in some parts for his 64 Merc, and he hadn't seen the Mustang in person yet. So I coerced him to stop by and turn some wrenches for a few hours while he was here to pick up the Merc parts.
I wanted to get the rear axle, exhaust, fuel tank, and front seats out of the car today. Earlier in the week I had started to unbolt the axle to control arm attachment points, but couldn't get the suspension in a position to fully remove the hardware. Having an extra pair of hands (and some more jack stands) made it much easier to get it all taken apart.
Forgot to bring the camera down to the shop until we already had most of the stuff removed, but these shots will give some idea of the progress we made.
Rear axle assembly out on the floor, nice clean housing to work with. It will be getting early SN95 5-lug axles (the extra length will work nicely with the 8" Saleen wheels), as well as 3.27 gears, and a Torsen diff.
The car had some cheapie Flowmaster knockoffs hanging underneath, I'm not a fan of the sound of those mufflers really. I will be replacing them with Walker Dynomax Super Turbos instead. That's what I had on my old 87, and I always loved the sound of them behind a 5.0L Ford. As well they were the mufflers of choice for the Fox Saleens. One of the techs at the dealership just bought a Fox 5.0L that happens to be missing its tailpipes, so these will do nicely for him:
Once the exhaust and diff were out, it was short work to remove the fuel tank. Because the car is so clean underneath, the straps and hardware are in very nice shape, and a quick hit with the impact gun zoomed out the bolts. Tank looks good, I am going to send it out for cleaning, since the fuel has been sitting in it for several years, and I have a Walbro 190 pump to go in too.
A few shots underneath the car, Stu was astonished at how clean and solid the undercarriage is. Of course we are used to working on crusty ***** that has experienced the road salt of Ontario winters, something which must have never happened to this car.
Front seats removed, I've made a deal with Tom, the cousin of the previous owner, who helped me get the car out his aunt's backyard, to trade the seats for a T-5 bellhousing and block separator plate.
We found the original ownership warranty card in amongst the crap and loose change on the floor, after removing the seats:
Stu had a good used T-5 manual trans taking up space in his storage shed, so he brought that along today, along with a grey console to put in place of the original porno red unit.
The drum brakes appeared to have pretty freshly installed shoes and drums, so Stu salvaged all that along with the minty e-brake cables for a Mustang project of his own (a bastard 67 notch with a Fox rear clip grafted in). Got to use the set of brake spring pliers that have been banging around in the bottom of my toolbox for 20-odd years. LOL
After we were done for the day, I realized that the back of the shop was a mess with all of the stuff I had for the Mustang, as well as just getting the engine back for my 67 Beetle ... you can see it on a stand to the left of the 302 shortblock:
Back in the late 80s, as far as I know the only caster plates on the market at that point were the original style Global West units. I remember them being something like $270 at the time, so for my old 87 we took some onion-head mounts and grafted them on to fabricated slotted plates. However these days GW doesn't have much demand for the old style plates any more, so they have them on clearout for $115 on their site ... I couldn't resist ordering a pair, which they were nice enough to send by postal service so that I wouldn't get boned on customs and brokerage fees, as would happen if they were sent by UPS. SHINY!!
So that's pretty much it, once the front crossmember and suspension is out of the car, that will be it for the disassembly phase ... it will be time to start bolting the cool stuff on!
It was great to make some progress today after the last several weeks of inactivity. A big thanks to my buddy Stu for turning wrenches today, he has always been a "git-er-done" guy.
cheers
Ed N.
My buddy of 30 years, and assistant in almost everything automotive I've done in that time, Stu K., came by today for a visit. I had ordered in some parts for his 64 Merc, and he hadn't seen the Mustang in person yet. So I coerced him to stop by and turn some wrenches for a few hours while he was here to pick up the Merc parts.
I wanted to get the rear axle, exhaust, fuel tank, and front seats out of the car today. Earlier in the week I had started to unbolt the axle to control arm attachment points, but couldn't get the suspension in a position to fully remove the hardware. Having an extra pair of hands (and some more jack stands) made it much easier to get it all taken apart.
Forgot to bring the camera down to the shop until we already had most of the stuff removed, but these shots will give some idea of the progress we made.
Rear axle assembly out on the floor, nice clean housing to work with. It will be getting early SN95 5-lug axles (the extra length will work nicely with the 8" Saleen wheels), as well as 3.27 gears, and a Torsen diff.
The car had some cheapie Flowmaster knockoffs hanging underneath, I'm not a fan of the sound of those mufflers really. I will be replacing them with Walker Dynomax Super Turbos instead. That's what I had on my old 87, and I always loved the sound of them behind a 5.0L Ford. As well they were the mufflers of choice for the Fox Saleens. One of the techs at the dealership just bought a Fox 5.0L that happens to be missing its tailpipes, so these will do nicely for him:
Once the exhaust and diff were out, it was short work to remove the fuel tank. Because the car is so clean underneath, the straps and hardware are in very nice shape, and a quick hit with the impact gun zoomed out the bolts. Tank looks good, I am going to send it out for cleaning, since the fuel has been sitting in it for several years, and I have a Walbro 190 pump to go in too.
A few shots underneath the car, Stu was astonished at how clean and solid the undercarriage is. Of course we are used to working on crusty ***** that has experienced the road salt of Ontario winters, something which must have never happened to this car.
Front seats removed, I've made a deal with Tom, the cousin of the previous owner, who helped me get the car out his aunt's backyard, to trade the seats for a T-5 bellhousing and block separator plate.
We found the original ownership warranty card in amongst the crap and loose change on the floor, after removing the seats:
Stu had a good used T-5 manual trans taking up space in his storage shed, so he brought that along today, along with a grey console to put in place of the original porno red unit.
The drum brakes appeared to have pretty freshly installed shoes and drums, so Stu salvaged all that along with the minty e-brake cables for a Mustang project of his own (a bastard 67 notch with a Fox rear clip grafted in). Got to use the set of brake spring pliers that have been banging around in the bottom of my toolbox for 20-odd years. LOL
After we were done for the day, I realized that the back of the shop was a mess with all of the stuff I had for the Mustang, as well as just getting the engine back for my 67 Beetle ... you can see it on a stand to the left of the 302 shortblock:
Back in the late 80s, as far as I know the only caster plates on the market at that point were the original style Global West units. I remember them being something like $270 at the time, so for my old 87 we took some onion-head mounts and grafted them on to fabricated slotted plates. However these days GW doesn't have much demand for the old style plates any more, so they have them on clearout for $115 on their site ... I couldn't resist ordering a pair, which they were nice enough to send by postal service so that I wouldn't get boned on customs and brokerage fees, as would happen if they were sent by UPS. SHINY!!
So that's pretty much it, once the front crossmember and suspension is out of the car, that will be it for the disassembly phase ... it will be time to start bolting the cool stuff on!
It was great to make some progress today after the last several weeks of inactivity. A big thanks to my buddy Stu for turning wrenches today, he has always been a "git-er-done" guy.
cheers
Ed N.
